Eluorescent Starter CE Marking

[Peter Crosland]

I bought a pack of two of these from my village hardware shop a few weeks ago and both have failed. No big deal costwise but it is an agravation to change them. I noticed that neither the packing or the starters were CE or BS marked. I had thought that this was a legal requirement in the UK. Googling confirms this so wondered if it was actually legal to sell them in the UK. I assume it is too trivial a matter for Trading Standards to be interested. Constructive observations welcomed.

[Part Timer]

Forget starters and get a high frequency electronic ballast. I haven't looked back since I posted the thread below in 2010 and the light works every time.

[alan]

>

Also

if you want instant start (with a slight womfff noise from the fitting)

[NT]

g)

tiem I got fed up with starters I just replaced it with a switch & small capacitor.

NT

[Peter Crosland]

>>

helpful and I have ordered some. Many thanks. If anyone has any comments on the original question I would still be interested.

[Brian Gaff]

I don't think its too trivial, as they are always interested in dodgy electrical items. Finding the originators of these might lead to finding the source of something more lethal, after all.

Brian

[Frank Erskine]

Certainly a fluoro starter should be CE marked especially as it's likely to be very prone to emission problems.

Could it be that your local "four candles" hardware shop has split say, a CE marked trade pack and used his own local labelling for your brace of starters?

In any case Trading Standards ought to be involved.

If they don't seem to be interested try contacting (I'd never heard of them until a few moments ago) the "Trading Standards Institute" -

-

[Andrew Gabriel]

I think it's the responsibility of the manufacturer, or if manufactured outside the EU, the responsibility of the importer to the EU.

The CE mark isn't any guarantee the product works.

Are you sure the starters were for the correct tube rating? Are these for long tubes in cold locations?

[charles]

indeed not. it stands for Chinese Export

[Man at B&Q]

Correct.

Nor of any particular quality.

The mark does not neccessarily have to be on the goods. If not, it must be on the packaging or documentation.

MBQ

[Huge]

And if it came from China, it's no proof of anything whatsoever.

[Peter Crosland]

Not on the packing either. I spoke to TS and their answer was basically TS!

[Peter Parry]

Yes it is, it stands for "Chinese Export" :-)

[Huge]

*grin*

[The Other Mike]

It can, but that is not the same as CE, nor the same as CE, it's all in the length of the horizontal in the E and the separation between the C and the E

CE Mark

mark vs China Export

[Andrew Gabriel]

Caveat Emptor is another one - "Let the buyer beware"...

[meow2222]

Does CE marking matter much? I've spent much of my life buying goods with n= o CE markings, and I've not found it a problem in any way.

It reminds me of the US warnings against buying drugs from Canada, somethin= g along the lines of 'don't buy them because we can't guarantee they're saf= e.' Well, who cares if its the US or CDN legal framework that oversees thei= r safety. I don't think a CE mark guarantees the consumer much of anything.

NT

[Richard Russell]

But would you have necessarily noticed a problem? A classic issue is EMC: often a non-compliant product (with inadequate filtering, or with the filtering components omitted) will appear to be working perfectly well to the end user - it's the poor radio amateur living next door who will be suffering!

Richard.

[polygonum]

I actually had thought that the Canada issues were things like bogus pharmacies, fake medicines, etc. rather than simply "different regulatory regime".

[meow2222]

seldom an issue in practice. Radio hams are few nowadays, access to foreign info is 1000x easier and better by internet. And most hams did ok in the pre-filter days.

But my main point is that a CE sticker has not a whole lot to do with RFI filtering, safety, reliability, function or anything else. Anyone can and usually does mark their products 'CE.'

NT